Top 5 new features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 -Update 1

Themes are in everybody’s favourite list and with good reason. We’ve been working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM since the 2011 version – back in the days of the good old grey forms. We’ve always wanted the ability to change the look and feel of the application, to style it up and brand it, but it just hasn’t been possible. Until now…

With the new Themes feature you can give your corporate CRM system a full makeover. You can add your company logo, adapt the colour scheme to match your corporate branding and even change the colour of specific menu icons to make them stand out. And, creating a theme is really simple! Start by cloning the default CRM theme and adjust the areas you want to as shown in the screenshot below.

2. Faster Menu Navigation

Dynamics CRM Update 1 introduces a new navigation layout that is built for quick access to the areas you use most. Previously, you had to scroll horizontally through the ribbon bar to get to the items you wanted to work on. Now, one-click gives you a drop down menu with direct access to all the familiar menu items.

3. Faster Access to Recently Viewed Items

The ability to access recently viewed items has always been a great time saver – now it’s even faster! One-click of the newly added recently viewed icon highlighted in red below gives you instant access to the items you’ve been working on.

4. Improved Excel Integration

Another great time saving feature is the ability to click once to export data to Excel. No more need to use the export wizard! For even more speed and convenience, edit records directly in Excel Online and save back to CRM with the click of a button as highlighted in red below. The record limit for Export has been increased too. It’s now 100,000.

5. Folder Level Email Tracking

The Track in CRM feature is a great way to instantly convert incoming emails to an Opportunity, Lead or Case, or to link emails to CRM entities with the Set Regarding option. Now you can save time by tracking at a folder level. You can enable email tracking for any folder in your Inbox and simply drag new mail into the folder to sync with CRM. Alternatively, set-up an Exchange rule to move incoming mail to a specific tracked folder and you have automated synchronisation. The feature is compatible with any device and email application that supports Exchange.

These are just some of the features available with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Update 1. They’ve made our favourites list because they offer style and speed. In a busy world, anything that helps you do more with less time has to be a good thing!